Donald Trump’s big effort to make the White House look like it’s built according to his style is getting closer to a huge new cost: almost a billion dollars.Now, Senate Democrats are asking where all that money is coming from.Leader Chuck Schumer and other top Democrats want a government audit after new reports showed that Trump’s ongoing construction projects at the White House are expected to cost at least $927 million.
That’s almost a billion dollars to tear down the historic East Wing, build a huge and ugly ballroom, make an underground bunker, fix the Rose Garden, put in a helipad on the South Lawn, and do other building and security work around the White House area.
And even though Trump kept saying private donors would pay for his favorite ballroom, American taxpayers are paying a big part of the cost.
Over $500 million has already come from the Secret Service and White House Military Office into a new account called “White House Repair and Restoration.” Private donations are about $305 million, and another $70 million came from a source that no one has publicly identified.
Senator Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee, said the administration hasn’t given Congress enough information to know if this spending was allowed in the first place.
At the same time, a federal appeals court stopped work on Trump’s ballroom, saying that whether or not a big ballroom should be built is for Congress to decide and not something the President can just do on his own.
The ballroom alone is now estimated to cost around $600 million, three times what Trump originally said.
More than half of that might be paid for by taxpayers as part of the White House’s “security improvements,” according to estimates from contractors shared with the Washington Post.
A White House spokesperson, Davis Ingle, said, “Thanks to the Builder-in-Chief, the White House will be properly glorified and remain in excellent condition for generations to come,” arguing that the East Wing project is connected to security needs.
But that’s hard to believe now, especially after Trump promised his ballroom would be a “gift to the country” that private donors would fund.
The ballroom has tripled in cost.
Over half a billion dollars has been taken from the Secret Service and White House Military Office, and another $70 million came from a source that the White House hasn’t named.
Trump spent his career building buildings using other people’s money, putting his name on them, and showing off as proof of his greatness.
Now he is using the same idea with the U.S.government, and very few people have been able to stop him.
He could remodel Trump Tower however he wanted, but the White House isn’t his to change like that.
He has no right to spend nearly a billion dollars messing up the people’s house, tearing down historic buildings, and building himself a fancy ballroom that’s three times more expensive than he said.Congress has every reason to look into this right now.
About the Author
